Media Releases

Paris, 7 December 2016 – Commenting on the public release of the OECD 2015 PISA Survey Results, Charles Fadel, Chair of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Education Committee said “Employers around the world value the importance of data, and PISA, as a unique instrument in its reach and quality, is the respected influential benchmark which Business at OECD supports. Yet as the world continues evolving, so must PISA. Business at OECD will continue collaborating with the OECD to expand and improve the measures to other areas of 21st century relevance for employability: modern knowledge such as entrepreneurship and engineering; skills such as creativity, critical thinking, etc.; as well as character qualities such as ethics and leadership.”

Education and training are top priorities for business. It is imperative to prepare our young people for the rapidly changing dynamic work place of today and for the future. Investment in training and access to quality education for all are essential to foster innovation and inclusive growth in our economies. PISA is an important benchmark and comparative analysis towards this goal.

Other News

Paris, 28 June 2017 — Business considers the responsible conduct of companies across markets as stipulated by the OECD MNE Guidelines to be an integral part of an open investment environment, while stressing the need for practical and manageable expectations. This is the central message of a high-level conference organized by Business at OECD (BIAC) today in Paris.

The OECD Guidelines include a unique implementation mechanism in the form of National Contact Points (NCPs). “The experience with the NCP system has been mixed. In some cases, it had a clear added value for companies, in other cases it was criticized. It is therefore important to have a common understanding among all stakeholders about the nature of the NCP process as a platform for mediation and problem-solving in good faith, which is different from legal litigation,” said Winand Quaedvlieg, Chair of the BIAC Committee on Investment and Responsible Business Conduct. Business will continue to work with the OECD to underline the conditions that must be in place to facilitate the proactive engagement of business in the process.

Paris, 28 April 2017 –“We need quick, coordinated and consistent action from G20 leaders to help improve the business and financing environment for SMEs or we risk missing out on their potential,” said Gianluca Riccio, Vice Chair of the Business at OECD Finance Task Force and author of the report. “The unintended consequences of domestic and cross border regulation, alongside access to finance and the challenges in transitioning to digital remain major barriers to growth for SMEs worldwide.”

Small and medium sized businesses remain constrained in their ability to access appropriate financing which is holding back their participation in international markets and global value chains. A new report from the Business at OECD and B20 calls on G20 leaders to follow three core recommendations to help solve this issue:

• Improve co-ordination and consultation when implementing regulation in the financial services sector
• Raise SME access to debt and equity finance by promoting successful private sector initiatives and sharing best practice
• Maximize access to data and sharing information through digital platforms, to help tackle global challenges such as cyber security